''He Set My Life to Music'' is the twelfth solo studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist,

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...

. It was released in September 1982 on

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

and was produced by Tom Collins. The album was Mandrell's second studio album of the year and her first recording of

Inspirational music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

Background and content

As described by Bill Carpenter of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, ''He Set My Life to Music'' is a "contemporary gospel album." The album contains 10 tracks of mainly cover versions of a series of gospel and inspirational standards. It includes covers of songs such as "

What a Friend We Have in Jesus "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is a Christian hymn originally written by preacher Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother, who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. Scriven originally published the poem anonymously, a ...

", " Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", and

Dottie Rambo Dottie Rambo (March 2, 1934 – May 11, 2008) was an American gospel singer and songwriter. She was a Grammy winning solo artist and multiple Dove award-winning artist. Along with ex-husband Buck and daughter Reba, she formed the award-winnin ...

's "I Will Glory in the Cross". The album included four duets with mainly Gospel artists. "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" was recorded with B.J. Thomas, "I Turn to Him" with

The Blackwood Brothers The Blackwood Brothers are an American southern gospel quartet. Pioneers of the Christian music industry, they are 8-time Grammy Award winners in addition to winning 7 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. They are also members of the Memphis ...

, "I Will Glory in the Cross" with Dottie Rambo, and "Through It All" with

Andrae Crouch Andrae, Andræ (Danish) or Andrä is a surname and given name, which is a variant of Andreae, itself a patronymic (via the Latin genitive case) from the personal name Andreas. Notable persons with this name include: Surname * Ahmed-Tobias Andr� ...

Release

The album was re-released many years later under the Universal Special Products. Carpenter gave the album three out of five stars. ''He Set My Life to Music'' reached number 59 on the '' Billboard''

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart, and did not spawn any singles. For her performance, Mandrell won the

Grammy award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for '' Best Inspirational Performance'' in 1983. The album also won Mandrell an award for "Album by a Secular Artist" at the 1983 Dove Awards. The album was released on an LP, with five songs on each side of the record. The album was also released on compact disc in 1991.

Track listing

;Side one #"

" – ( Charles Converse,

Joseph Scriven Joseph Medlicott Scriven, (10 September 1819 – 10 August 1886) was an Irish-born Canadian poet, best known as the writer of the poem which became the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". Life Joseph Scriven was born in 1819 of prosperous pa ...

) 3:24 #*with B.J. Thomas #" Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"/"Swing Chariot" – (

Wallace Willis Wallace Willis was a Choctaw freedman living in the Indian Territory, in what is now Choctaw County, near the city of Hugo, Oklahoma, US. His dates are unclear: perhaps 1820 to 1880. He is credited with composing (probably before 1860) several ...

; adapted and arranged by Barbara Mandrell and Tom Collins) 2:55 #"I Turn to Him" – (W.T. Davidson) 3:14 #*with

#"I Will Glory in the Cross" – (

) 4:14 #*with Dottie Rambo #"Through It All" – (

) 3:31 #*with Andrae Crouch ;Side two #"He Set My Life to Music" – (

Kye Fleming Rhonda Kye Fleming (born October 9, 1951) is an American singer/songwriter and music publisher working in Nashville, Tennessee. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009 and has won more than 42 BMI Awards, including B ...

, Dennis Morgan) 4:36 #"He Grew the Tree" – (Chuck Lawrence) 3:56 #"Out of the Mouths of Babes" (Adapted and arranged by Barbara Mandrell and Tom Collins) – 2:22 #"I'm Yours, Lord" – ( Gary Chapman) 2:27 #"Then, Now, and Forever" (Adapted and arranged by Barbara Mandrell and Tom Collins) – 5:50

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 1982 albums Barbara Mandrell albums MCA Records albums Albums produced by Tom Collins (record producer)